The 2017 person of the year: The Dark Cloud

2017 was dominated by headlines on sexual harassment scandals at the Capitol, Senator Jack Latvala's fall from grace, Jimbo Fischer bolting after a lackluster football season, a barrage of shootings and homicides that helped keep Tallahassee on top of the crime rankings, a Greek system banned after a tragic death during a fraternity party and an ongoing FBI investigation which brought scrutiny to Commissioner Scott Maddox, his aide Paige Carter-Smith, entrepreneur J.T. Burnette, former City Manager Rick Fernandez, Mayor Andrew Gillum and his former associate Adam Corey, who introduced three undercover FBI agents to the city's business and elected leaders. It all combined to create a dark cloud that still hangs over the capital city.(Photo: Des Moines Design Studio)

When people talk about what’s happening in Tallahassee right now, the two-word term eventually surfaces. It’s figurative, yet as real as it can be. And it doesn’t seem to stop – our planned January release was delayed by search warrants and shootings.

It’s the manifestation of a year when a community with so many positive attributes (and we will tell some of those as a part of this package) was irrefutably defined by a series of negative events and stories.

So today, rather than talk about the stories themselves – rather than dive deeper into crime and sex and corruption --- we dive into its effects.